In Defense of Faith-based Initiatives

I've talked with clergymen and religious leaders of various faiths about the concept of Faith-based Initiatives.  At the International Dream Church in LA, (Assembly of God church), as the concept was being formulated, the discussion centered about whether the concept could work.  Those who talked with me at the Dream Church were enthusiastic about it.  Discussions I've had with the Catholic Worker organization in LA, after the concept was put into use under the leadership of President George Bush, were centered around criticisms they made of the concept and why they wouldn't make use of it.  I know that the Evangelical Christian leadership is opposed to the program and wants it repealed, but I haven't discussed it with any of them..  Currently, the program is up and running and seems a tremendous success.  I endorse it wholeheartedly!  Some Episcopal clergy from England I met at the Hollywood Episcopal church were amazed and confounded that such a program could be successfully undertaken, when I shared my knowledge of the program with them!

The program is modelled after elements of the food distribution program in the US, whereby government supplies food to church and religious agencies who then distribute it.  For example, in the Reno area, I receive an allotment of food (supplied by the local Food Bank) at a Christian Church which in turn supplies both the area for the food to be distributed and the volunteer labor who do clerical and food handling stuff. This food distribution to the needy is carried out  across the country using church sites, etc. Its is an example of church and state working together for social good.

The philosophy of the faith-based initiative program is just that simple:  religious organizations (e.g., churches) and government (i.e., federal, state, county, municipal) team up together to solve social problems and promote the social welfare for the good of society.  Importantly, the one without the other could not do as well; and society would suffer.

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS (AS I UNDERSTAND IT)

Let's use an example.  A church establishes an after-school program for the kids in its neighborhood.  The program gets off the ground due to the leadership and direction of its clergy.  Then, all of a sudden for whatever reason--say, a business downturn amounting to a recession--the funds the church had no longer are coming in sufficiently to keep the after-school program going.  The church would ordinarily have to close the program down--neighborhood kids no longer would have access to that place to study and play after school that the church was providing.  These kids might then turn to the streets, once again, and might get into trouble, even engage in social deviant behaviors  But because of the Faith-based Initiative program is in existence, the church can apply for government funding!  Government to the rescue where community effort left on its own gave insufficient support. The government grants the church sufficient funds to keep the program going.  Now, it may be that at some future time, the church will not need those extra funds that the government was giving them; or the church may be able to expand the program with those government funds.  That's up to the government agency and the particular church to work out together.

The point is, there's numerous cases in which some religious agency, which runs its own program, and the government can strike a deal for the good of society, especially in hard financial times unforeseen by those who put the program together and run it.

AN ADDENDUM (OF MINE)

The religious person who dedicates himself  for a social cause, e.g., building a house or digging a well, in the name of his God will do a fine job.  But, if he were to think that he's simply a government worker doing the bidding of some bureaucrat, he would walk off the job!  He does what he does, makes the sacrifices involved because he is dedicated to his religious belief.  You can't argue with that.  So, the social good he does by digging the well, for example, ought to be supported by any means possible.  See Varieties of Religious  Experience  by William James, who makes this point far better than I:  religious dedication has social worth as well as religious merit. 

And, these Evangelicals and religious purists who decry government and religion working together seem to me espousing a philosophy that would deprive society of the benefits of religious action that has social worth.